Take a look at the top-10 fighters in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA flyweight rankings, and one man stands out as the only athlete not already under contract with the UFC. He’d like to change that.

“There’s only one organization on my mind,” Darrell Montague told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I don’t want to fight just to fight. I want to fight the best opponents in the world.”

Montague is a 25-year-old Californian who is perhaps best known as the former Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion, a title he held at just 23 years old – and at a time when that California-based promotion boasted one of the best 125-pound rosters in the world.

When the world’s largest MMA promotion, the UFC, added flyweights to its ranks in early 2012, Montague figured he’d likely receive a call. Instead, he watched as fellow Tachi Palace Fights veterans Ian McCall and Ulysses Gomez – not to mention Joseph Benavidez, who competed for an earlier incarnation of Tachi Palace Fights known as Palace Fighting Championship – earned call-ups instead.

“It’s been a little rough,” Montague admitted. “I’ve had some down moments. I just always try to stay positive about it. That only gives me time to get better and better. When I do get there, I’m going to make a splash.”

Montague currently boasts a four-fight win streak and is 10-1 in his past 11 fights. His lone loss in that time came to McCall, who scored a third-round submission win in the pair’s August 2011 meeting. Montague knows it was a costly defeat but believes he’s changed tremendously since that time.

“The one thing I really changed after the Ian fight was I started doing a little bit more strength and conditioning training because really, that’s the only thing I think he got me on,” Montague said. “He’s a strong little dude. Other than that, technique and skill-wise, I think I’m up there with any of the guys the UFC has. I just need an opportunity to show it off.

“Ian hasn’t had too many good fights in the UFC, himself, so maybe it was a blessing. Maybe I would have gone there, and I would have gone 0-2-1. It is what it is. There’s a reason for why everything happen. I’ve just got to stay positive, and when I get my chance take advantage of it.”

Montague fought most recently in May, when he earned a first-round submission win over Jesse Miramontes. Prior to that, it was a decision win over a then-ranked Mamoru Yamaguchi.

So for now, he spends his days training and teaching classes to pay the bills and the evening’s with his girlfriend and the couple’s 16-month-old daughter. But there is a passion burning underneath. “The Mongoose” is waiting for the call to the big stage, and he’ll happy to face whoever it takes for him to get himself there.

“I think the UFC is just trying to develop some talent from elsewhere,” Montague said. “They haven’t had too many 125-pound fights, and it kind of seems like they want fighters from around the world so they have local people for their shows. Unfortunately, I’m from Southern California, and there’s a lot of fighters from here they can choose from.

“I just want good opponents. I want to fight for the UFC, so I want to fight the best guys in the world that can get me there. If I don’t get to do that, then I’ll rest. I’ll get better and wait for my chance to fight the best guys in the world.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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